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By Pete Dunn, Sport 40-49
Woke up, got out of bed and dragged
a comb across my head. Anyhoot, drove to West Fairlee with
an “expert” buddy. Great looking day – It
is sunny but it had a little rain the day or so prior. No
time to pre-ride and just ride up and down the hill at the
race entry. They line us up. Looks like about 15-20 guys in
Sport 40-49. Get in front next to the guy who has been kickin
the butt of the collective 40-49 group. I had a little trouble
getting in my pedals but the others had more trouble. So,
I get to the narrowing point in third and must have done something
right since there is a nice gap between me and the next guy.
 Then
I break out to the dirt road and get passed by 7 -8 guys.
Now, I’m riding 10th or so, but basically the lead group.
Since, I didn’t have time to pre-ride, I have no idea
what lies ahead, except a steep hill ahead. Have I mentioned
I hate ups? So, I let ‘em go and drop back a bit. I
get to the top and Thank the “mtb gods” there
is a singletrack downhill. I get excited and cut my breaks
(kidding) and go. I close the gap to the lead group. Pass
one or two where I can and make my way along the course. About
half way around the course gets very undulating with some
unknown (to me) stream crossings. I have a hard time settling
the heart/breathing and getting comfortable. As I learned
later so does everybody else. Wish I knew that. So, I ride
behind someone I do not know and hoping he is fast. Notice
his technical skill “bite” and I “suck it
up” and pass where it opens up.
Wow that burns the energy up. I’m tired.
Wha wha. I plug along the course’s up and down corridor.
Almost a stop and go. Wow this is tough on the legs and lungs.
Finally, I can hear the music and I come to a clearing. I
can feel the heat of the day. The clearing is an open farm
field and the tires just seem to stop rolling and the humidity/heat
hit ya just wrong. But as it turns out it is a short venture.
I get to the other side and catch up to some 30-39 y/o’s.
I finish the first lap.
No idea where I am in relation to the others.
So I chug along through and up the hill. Again I find myself
having loads of fun on the down hill. With the wear and tear
of the first lap, the “off camber” roots make
for some interesting sections but it’s all good. I almost
launch myself into some trees but the bike does its thing
and stays on the trail when I land. (I find having fun distracts
me from the pain I am in for a little bit). I find this lap
around, I do better. I know the stream crossings are not hard
and there is nothing to them. So I plow through with out slowing
and losing momentum. Kinda important at 195lbs. I think I
made up some time or at least created some distance behind
me. I come to the last clearing and I see the camera guy so
I tell him to wait for me to flex and suck in my gut for the
pic. Ha-ha.
I finish up the last singletrack section
and cross the finish. It turns out I am 7th out of 16. The
first place guy beats me by 10 minutes and the second place
guy is only 5 minutes ahead. So pretty tight between 2nd and
7th place. The 8th place guy was 5-1/2 minutes behind me.
Overall the course was fun. Wish I had gotten there earlier
but those are the breaks. After I got clean up, I rewarded
myself with a Coke-cola, hotdog with cheese and a big honkin’
chocolate brownie. (Was thinking of JP while eatin’
the brownie. Man was it decadent.)
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